Eternal Promise
by Animgal12345
Summary: A boy and his mother go for a walk, the mother doesn't come back. Or How Jayden and Deker could have met! Au
1. Chapter 1

6-year-old Jayden Shiba wandered through his house, searching for something to do. It was his day free from his studies and he couldn't find anything to occupy the time. Looking outside, he saw his father training with the power rangers and his older sister, Lauren, practicing her kanji. Hearing someone approaching, he turned around to find his mother.

"Mom!" He greeted her with a hug. She laughing and hug him back. She wore a wool shawl to protect her from the chilly Fall breeze.

"How would my brave little samurai feel about going on a walk?" she asked. He nodded happily and ran off to get a jacket.

A few minutes later, they were walking along a forest path, Jayden stomping on fallen leaves while his mother watched him play.

"Look at what I found!" Jayden cheered, holding up a leaf that resembled a mooger's head. "It looks like the monsters dad fights!"

"You're right," she replied. Glancing at her son, she took the leaf and held it up in front of her face. "Booga Booga Booga, I'm an evil mooger. I'm going to get you!" Jayden screeched in laughter and ran off. His mother chased him until they reached a clearing. Both froze as they saw a group of moogers and a short, squid like nighlok turn to look at them.

"Oh ah oh, who are you?" The short nighlok screeched. "It doesn't matter, get them!" The moogers attacked, but Jayden's mother moved in front of her son and pulled out a katana. Countering one of the mooger's blows, she shouted for Jayden to run. Nodding, Jayden ran into the forest. He heard the nighlok's voice command "Don't let him get away!"

Twigs snapped underneath his little 6 year old feet. Knowing he couldn't out run the monsters, he quickly hid under a bush nearby. The sound of feet quickly approach until he could see the moogers feet. He heard them growl and talking to each other in another language.

He saw a pair of feet approach his spot, but before it could do anything, a sword sliced the air. The moogers gave out cries of surprise before they were destroyed. Gasps of breathes other than his own filled the air. He saw pair of white feet and the nighlock's feet close by.

"Oooh, how dare you attack us for that woman! Oh ah oh! You'll pay for it!" The nighlok screeched before disappearing in a glow of red light. The white feet gave out a grunt of annoyance before turning to his position.

"I know you're there, I promise not to harm you," a man's voice came out. Cautiously, Jayden crawled out to see purple flames surround the creature with white feet. When they died down, a human man stood in its place. The man smirked at him. "Your mother sent me to get you home."

"Where is she?" Jayden looked up at the man as he stood up. The man's smirk turned into a frown. After thinking of a good response, he answered.

"She was tired after all that fighting, so she went to sleep in meadow, someone can get her later, first we need to get you home," The man then looked around. Looking at Jayden, the man asked "Which direction do we go?"

"That way," Jayden pointed in the direction of his house. Deciding to show the way, he took the man's hand in his own and began to walk home. As they reached the half way point of their journey, they saw Jayden's father and his team running in their direction. Jayden immediately broke his grip on the man hand and ran towards his father. "Daddy!"

"Son!" his father ran over and embraced him. "Where's your mother?"

"She's sleeping in the meadow, this man told me so," Jayden replied, pointing to the man in white. Jayden father looked over at him. "Daddy! Daddy! This man took down this group of moogers before scaring off this ugly looking nighlok away!" Jayden smiled with glee. "He saved me from them and was taking me home!"

"Was he now?" his Auntie Rose, the yellow ranger, replied with a smile. Jayden nodded quickly.

"Your wife asked me to," the man in white stated. Jayden's father frowned before nodding. "You should get her, one of the moogers got a luckily shot before she finished them off. She's back in the meadow."

"I see, thank you very much," Jayden's father nodded to the man before turning to his son. "Jayden, how about you and this man here head home. We'll get go your mother."

"Ok! Come on mister, we're almost there," Jayden took the man's hand and began to walk home once more.

The sun was slowly setting when the pair had the home in their sights. As they neared the gates to the house, the man tensed. He trailed his eyes from the entrance to the sky, seeing different symbols create a dome over the estate. Jayden noticed the man's look.

"They're to keep the bad monsters out and protect us from their evil powers," he whispered with a note of seriousness in his voice. "Only humans and good things can past through."

"I see," the man replied with caution in his voice. As they pasted through the gates, the man's step slowed before returned to its normal pace. Jayden glanced up to see the man appearing troubled. Before he could voice his curiosity, his caretaker, Ji, rushed from the entrance of the house. He knelt before the boy and hugged him close.

"Jayden, take goodness you're alright. Your father and the others just ran off to find you and your mother the moment the alarm went off. Where is she?" Pulling away, he looked to the entrance gate and then to the man next to them. Ji quickly stood and pulled Jayden behind him. "Who are you?" The man opened his mouth to reply, but the young boy beat him to it.

"He's an ally, Ji. Mom sent him to protect me from the moogers. She's in the meadow taking a nap. Don't worry though, dad's going to get her," he answered, rushed to stand in between the two adults.

"You don't say?" Ji stared questioningly at the man before looking down at the child. Jayden quickly nodded his head in return. "Why don't we head inside, then, and get cleaned up while they're gone. I'm sure you're tired from today's events, so how about a nap afterwards while we wait for your parents to return." He gave the boy a smile as Jayden quickly nodded. The trio headed inside just as the last light of the sun gave awya darkness.

Jayden awoke to the sound of a tea kettle whistling down the hall from his room. The clock by his bed told him that some time had pasted he fell asleep. Carefully slipping out of his bed, he creeped silently down the hall towards the sound of chatter coming from the meeting room. Peeking around the corner, he saw that his father and the others had returned and were talking to the man with frowns on all of their faces.

"So you were just talking a walk in the woods, when you heard shouts coming from the clearing," his Uncle Nicholas, the blue ranger, questioned. The man nodded.

"Which lead you to discover the fight between Jayden's mother and the moogers," Aunt Mako continued.

"And when she finished off the group she was facing, she then noticed you," Uncle Miguel, the green ranger, picked up where Aunt Mako stopped. The man lowered his eyes and nodded without a word.

"Which gave a Mooger who had been hidden beforehand a chance to a get quick hit on her," Aunt Rose said in a soft voice, her eyes were filled with saddness.

"One hit was all they needed," the man stated with venom in his voice. With a sigh, he raised his glance and let his eyes begin to wander. "I realize now that had I been faster, had not stopped to watch what was happening, I probably could had maybe been able to save her," his eyes came to rest on the sight of Jayden peeked from hall. Not giving away the presence of the young boy, the man spoke once more, "and for that, I am sorry."

Deciding he had heard enough, Jayden had turned and ran as quietly as he could back to his room, where he slipped into his bed. He knew fully well what the conversation had revealed. His mother isn't coming back from that meadow. And with that knowledge, the young boy fell asleep with silent tears flowing down his face.


	2. Chapter 2

div style="font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" The moment Lauren had found out the truth, the house was filled with screams of despair and heart wrenching sobs. Despite the fact that Jayden's mother had not been Lauren's actual mother, they had a bond like she had been. To lose her was to lose not just a mother, but a second mother at that. /div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" Jayden sat silently next to Lauren as all this happened, struggling to swallow the large lump that had formed in his throat. He never let out a peep nor shed a single tear throughout the day. It wasn't until the sun was setting once more that Ji had caught him alone outside with everyone else somewhere else on the land that he finally let his emotions show through. Ji held him tight as he cried, his cries muffled in the comforting robes his caretaker wore. They both stayed there, unmoving as the sadness ran its course. Finally, the sound of a door opening brought them back to reality. They both turned to see Jayden's father standing in the door way with a small frown on his face. He silent knelt down and held his arms open for his son, who quickly ran into his grasp and held onto him tight. Standing up with his child cradled in his arms, his father turned to Ji and gave his silent thanks before informing them that dinner was ready./div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" It was two days later that Jayden found himself outside practicing with a wooden sword, when the door to the house slid open. Giving a quick glance to see who it was, he was met by the sight of the stranger standing there with an blank look on his face. The adults decided it would be best for him to stay for a while to avoid trouble from the nighloks for his part in fighting the nighlok. After his arrival to the home, the man avoided the others, never joining them for meals and avoided any contact the best he could. Jayden has only caught short glimpses of the man over the course of his stay. So, to see him now completely was a pleasant surprise for the boy. After waited a moment to see if the man would do anything else, the boy turned back to continue his practice./div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "Training to take over your father's mantle of red ranger when you're old enough?" the man's voice drifted through the air. Jayden paused once more to consider the question before returning to his training./div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "No, that's Lauren's job, she's older," Jayden answered. The man gave a hum in return. "I still need to train though, even if i'm not going to be the red ranger, I still need to be strong enough to help defend everyone from the nighlok." /div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "I see," the man said. Jayden heard him finally take a step out of the doorway and onto the porch. The boy stopped in order to see what the man was going to do. The man simply sat down and pulled out a long staff look object that was wrapped in a cloth and tied at two ends of the object. He made quick work of untie and then unwrapped the unknown object. Jayden tilted his head in curiosity before gasping when he saw that the object was in fact a white katana. The man flicked his eyes away from the sword and towards the boy to watch his reaction, chuckling at the child's surprise. He returned his attention to the sword as he pulled it free of it's sheath and begin to clean it./div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "Are you a samurai?" Jayden whispered, his curiosity sparked at the new discovery./div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "Not exactly, samurai of sorts in a way," The man replied with a frown. The answer, though, did not spur the child's excitement away though, instead, it seemed to cause even more excitement. /div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "Will you have a duel with me?" The child asked with a grin. The man froze at the question, halting in his cleaning. Taking a moment to consider the question, his looked to the young boy before him./div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "Perhaps when you're older we can have a duel, and if you keep training as much as you do," he answered. The boy deflated at the answer./div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "But if its when I'm older, how are you going to recognized me if i change?" Jayden inquired. The man gave the question a thought before deciding on what to do. He set the sword and cleaning cloth down before lifting his hand to his neck, where he took off one of his many necklaces. This one in perticular was old looking japanese coin tied onto a thick leather cord. Holding the necklace out to the boy, he hung it onto the boy's neck before sitting back. Jayden held the coin between his fingers, studying the object for a moment before looking up at the man in confusion./div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "When we meet again, show me that necklace and i will know who exactly you are. Then we can have that duel, if you're still interested," the man gave the boy a smirk before turning back to his sword. /div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "Promise?" the boy asked. The man's smirk became a full smile at the innocent inquiry./div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" "I promise," he said. Jayden smiled at the promise before returning to his sword training. The man watched the boy, smiling and shaking his head at the pure innocence of the boy's joy, before resuming his cleaning. /div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" At the end of the week, the man disappeared from the residence. He in fact left during the night while everyone was asleep. In the morning, when Jayden and Lauren were informed of this revelation, the children were both saddened, both missing the presence of their acquaintance already. Jayden especially when he realized he had never asked the man his name. /div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" Though, the realization at soon forgotten, because it was not even a day later when the Shiba residence was attacked by nighlok. The nighlok had somehow managed to destroy the protection symbols around the house before invading the residence. Soon, Jayden found himself all by himself with only Ji as his companion: his father dead, his sister sent off somewhere secret, and the other rangers disbanded with the temporary defeat of the nighlok, returning home to thier own families. The boy soon let himself get lost in his training in preparation of Master Xandred return. The memories of the man and their promise forgotten./div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" /div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" /div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;"hr /div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" /div  
div style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans; font-size: 16px;" Jayden jolted awake from his sleep. His hand flew to the necklace he wore around his neck as his memories from over a decade ago returned. Shock filled his form as he finally realized the identity of the man who had save him so many years ago. A single hand appeared in front of himself, careful slipping the necklace from his hand, drawing Jayden's attention away from his memories. His eyes widened at the person who knelt infront, who held the coin up in between them. /div  
div style="font-family: gotham, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" "I do believe that i promise you a duel, my dear red ranger," Deker said with a smug smirk upon his face./div 


End file.
